UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
MASTER OF EDUCATION
(EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP)
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
TOPIC : A STUDY ON SERVICE QUALITY PRACTICES IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES
BY
ZUBAIDAH BINTI ABDUL GHANI
2009546185
LECTURER
ASSOC. PROF. DR. TEOH SIAN HOON
EDU 702 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background
In current competitive academic situation, students have many options and factors which influence them to select higher educational institutions. Higher education institutions should seriously examine the ways to attract and retain students, and require them to start look for effective and creative ways to attract, maintain and foster stronger relationships with students. Therefore, a private organization only depends on the market's interaction and mechanism. Hence, the competition to encourage as many students as possible becomes more severe or so-called "potential customer". In addition, a private institution, it does not have the "privilege" to receive any subsidies or finance al assistances from the government. Thus, this will make a private institution facing tougher situation (Teo, 2001).
Today universities are losing their unique functions as discoverers, developers and transmitters of knowledge by selling themselves and their services for what in effect is profit (Ghazally, 1997). Universities are sources of knowledge and information. As knowledge is more internationalized, universities cannot but compare and compete with others. For universities, competition occurs at the core of business; teaching, research and services. To gain a comparative advantage over others a university must identify factors and niche areas that will make it distinct from others. University must be able to retain expertise and continue to attract new talents in competing with others (M. Zawawi, 1997). Many universities in developed countries are encouraged to seek an increasing proportion of their income from non-traditional sources, mostly through selling their services. Most universities welcome the move as a way of increasing institutional autonomy.
The failure to fulfill the students' expectation on the institutions is the main factors for students' withdrawal (Alridge and Rowley, 2001). Kanji, Abdul Malek and Wallace (1999) studied and recommended some insights related to the real situation of the Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia. They identified that most institutions do provide a great deal of importance to meet their customers' expectations which is the condition similar to business organization. Unfortunately, the awareness of their staff towards their customer is still lacking, and it has contributed to common problems for many institutions. This lead us to an understanding that students will have more opportunity in supporting their sustained enrollment into higher educational institutions and on how well they met students' expectations for services in terms of the educational programs and services. The level of satisfaction towards the services will create the difference in this market competition (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1996). This study attempts to examine the aspects of service quality and the level of satisfaction among the students of private higher education institutions.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Higher Education was established after the general election in the year of 2004. This indicated that the higher education institutions in Malaysia were provided special attention in order to achieve national aspirations towards the objective of the country to become centre of excellence for education. Therefore, this clearly required the information of a very high level committee to conduct studies related to strengths and weaknesses, the current status of higher education, and finally to make recommendations that could enhance the levels of quality, achievement and recognition of higher educational institution in Malaysia.
1.2 Higher Educational Institution in Malaysia
According to Khir Johari Report (1967), higher education can be defined as any professional of academic study that requires as a prerequisite the minimum academic qualification of higher School Certificate or of its equivalent for admission into an institution at university level, and a Malaysian Certificate of Education or its equivalent for admission into an institution at university at college level. Based on this definition, a person require 13 years schooling (6 years in primary and 7 years in secondary school) before he or she can be applied to university, or eleven years (6 years in primary and 5 years in secondary school) to be admitted to college or polytechnic. In Malaysia, the term ''higher education'' includes all post-secondary education leading to the award of certificates, diplomas and degrees.
However, Wilkinson and Ishak Yussof (2005) confined the definition to all tertiary education that confers a degree, in particular first-degree programmes. Although the Education Act 1961 allows for the setting up of private schools and colleges, higher education has traditionally been subject to strict regulation and has been provided only by the public sector.
The reality is that Higher Educational Institution is being recognized as a service industry, a national public service that is delivered in a variety of ways of number of clients, customers and stakeholders. It is considerable change from the time when Higher Educational Institution was selective and elitist and when the students were considered to be subordinate to the needs and desires of lecturers and both of institutions. All of this means Higher Educational Institution will be recognized as functioning in a marketplace. The idea of 'marketplace' is useful because it helps us to understand the negotiated and contractual relationship among individuals and organizations involved in education. The market concept helps us to describe very clearly the various relationships among the players in Higher Educational Institution. Marketing and servicing of the market will be major activity. The main concerns will be the cost, price and quality measured in an economic way with due to regard for customer satisfaction. The research and development function should be strengthened, so that the programmes were able to be delivered in the right quality and satisfied the customer. There will be an awareness of customers and clients; a consequence of the recognition of Higher Educational Institution is a service industry, and that is where the money comes from. The key evaluator is the customer to ensure that there will be a growing recognition, not the deliverer, and more sophisticated ways of ensuring the customer satisfaction and professional value are kept in record (Gray, 1997).
1.2.1 Private Universities/Institution
In the early 1990s, the private sector began to take a stronger role in the development of the educational system. Since then, Private Higher Educational Institutions (Private HEIs) have offered various courses and programmes of a professional, technical and managerial nature. The majority of these institutions offer programmes under the ''twinning concept'' through which the degrees or diplomas awarded are franchised from overseas.
Private HEIs involved an important role in the development of higher education in the Malaysia in terms of provision of opportunities for higher education, savings on foreign exchange and contribution in establishing Malaysia as a hub of excellence in international higher education. Since the 1980s, there has been a rapid development of Private HEIs. Private HEIs offers courses of study at the certificate and diploma levels in collaboration with foreign universities and professional bodies from United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In the 1990s, private higher education further developed where more Private HEIs certificate, diploma and degree level study courses in various fields such as business, engineering, communication, computer, and information technology through collaborative programmes with UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and France. These collaborative programmes are conducted through twinning, credit transfer, advance standing, and professional programmes.
In 1997 when the world economic was recession, this contributed a significant impact on the development of local private higher education. With a massive reduction in the number of government sponsored students for overseas study, non-university level private higher education institutions are allowed to manage their programmes in collaboration with universities abroad such as UK, Australia, New Zealand and France.
At the same time local Private HEIs has successfully attracted more international students to study in Malaysia.
Private HEIs in Malaysia is categorized into two, namely, Private HEIs of University status and Private HEIs of Non-University status. For the Private HEIs with University status, there are three categories, which are, Private HEIs of University status, University College, Foreign University Branch campus and for Private HEIs of non-university status, there is the Private HEIs of College status.
By 31 December 2009 updated, there are 19 Private HEIs of University and University College respectively, 5 Foreign University Branch campuses and 393 colleges. Now Private HEIs are not only complementing the private higher education, but is also the medium for the realization of Malaysia to become the hub of excellence of an international higher education.
There are total 19 Private Universities/Institutions in Malaysia:
- Management and Science University (MSU)
- Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNiTEN)
- Multimedia University
- Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR)
- Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP)
- International Medical University (IMU)
- Universiti Industri Selangor (UNISEL)
- Open University Malaysia (OUM)
- Malaysia University of Science and Technology
- AIMST University
- Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)
- Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL)
- Wawasan Open University (WOU)
- Albukhary International University
- Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT)
- Asia e University (AeU)
- Al-Madinah International University (MEDIU)
- International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF)
- Malaysia Science and Management University
1.3 Problem Statement
The major service provide by most universities to their students by offering the best courses/programs available, the best facilities that include accommodation, library, classroom, computer lab, hostel etc. Previously, there are few studies conducted in private university related to the perceptions and satisfactions of their students for the service provided by the management of the private university.
Unfortunately, the issue has been highlighted in news paper on professionalism of administration and the academic staffs of the private higher institution by the frustrated student due to his/her college mistake concerning the issues such as college reputation by pushing the students to involve in charitable activities which in the end causing the overlook of the bigger issue which is their academic performance ("Unprofessional College", 2004). Nowadays, students are not wait and see for the changes to be made but will put an effort to find effective channels to voice their complaints if the management does not show that they concern towards the complaints.
The government for example has for long not compromising on the quality of education offered and hope to see that the private higher education will provide a quality education toward the students ("We won't compromise", 2001). This of course is in-synchronization with the current trend in education industry. As stated by our former Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad, regarding the weakness in the private HEI, he is aware there is a change of attitude among the present students nowadays as they are becoming brave to speak-out their rights and demand related to quality. One of his remarks on this issue is,
"Don't be surprised if a student takes one of you to court for not teaching properly."
The intention here is obvious and well made but the problem is, comparing to the public higher education learning, it seems the perceptions of the people toward the private higher education tend to be biased in term of quality. It seems that the majority of students and parents especially Bumiputera were place their hoping towards public higher education institutions. If the students are failed to enter a place public higher education, the students will be perceived to have a hopeless future. This circumstance should not happen, as stated by the Prime Minister himself that he does not want these institutions to become the "last resort options" or a poorer alternative to public universities (Ling, 2003).
Also, the private universities were still lacking of knowledge related to the level of satisfaction among student and their perceptions towrds service quality in their own university. This study is intends to investigate on service quality management practices can be useful to improve the service to their students and also sensitize the management to provide quality service for their students.
1.4 Research Issues
Organizations are the structures which have been created to achieve defined objectives. To attain their objectives, organizations need to interact with many environmental factors. For this reason, they cannot be thought of as separate from the outside world. To maintain their existence, organizations should monitor the changes and adapt themselves to the developments in the environment (Toremen & Karakus, 2009). From the study of Joseph and Joseph (1997), the performance of the higher institutions falls in the respondents "zone of tolerance". As long as the respondents satisfied with the performance of the institutions even if they perceived their institutions as not quality institution. They suggested that the factors such as academic reputation, careers opportunities, program issues, cost and time, physical aspect and others need to be monitored regularly and improved. This is important to ensure the students' satisfaction towards their overall educational experience.
1.5 Research Objectives
The purpose of this study is to examine students perceptions towards the service quality practices in several dimensions (program issue, academic reputation, physical aspects/cost, career opportunities, location, time and others needs) in two private universities.
Specifically the study intend to examine the following:
- To examine the level of satisfaction of service quality practices among the students.
- To examine the perceptions of students about service quality practices provided by the management.
- To determine the relationship between the level of satisfaction and the perceptions of students about service quality practices.
1.6 Research Questions
- What is the level of satisfaction of service quality practices among the students in two private universities?
- What are the perceptions of the students towards the service quality practices in program issue, academic reputation, physical aspects/cost, career opportunities, location, time and others need in two private universities?
- Is there a significance relationship between the level of satisfaction and the perceptions of students about service quality practices in two private universities?
1.7 Significance of the Study
Most of organizations are moving towards enhancing their service quality practices. The quality of service that can be applied to universities, especially to private universities, differentiates them from their public counterparts. Private universities while attempting to compete at academic levels with other universities should offer an extra advantage to provide excellence quality services to their students. Particularly, it can even be assumed to be an important road to the competitive excellence for the service oriented organization as by neglecting these aspects of quality services will put such organization at a competitive disadvantage compared to its counterparts because most of its revenues are enrollment related thus affecting its financial health (Zammuto et al., 1996). This study is important because it is going to measure the perceptions of service quality and the level of satisfaction among the students. Referring to Iacobucci, Ostrom and Grayson (1995), assume if quality programs were initiated based on marketing research include the changes were market driven and customer oriented will lead to improve the quality and enhance customer satisfaction" (p. 296). The result from the study can be used to give valuable information on the elements and the dimensions, which have been given a priority by students in assessing the quality of services and satisfaction. In addition to that, this study is going to provide the conclusions and some recommendations, which are hoped that it's going to provide useful information to the private higher education institutions. This study is important because private universities provide the service that meets the students' satisfaction while delivering the services. Also, this study will help the management to plan effective practices to provide practical service quality management practices towards meeting students' satisfaction and needs. Beside that, this study can contribute towards new ideas in measuring service quality management practices and to improve the management of a private university indirectly to become more effective.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of this study is limited into several area. In measuring the service quality practices in private universities in Malaysia, there are several dimensions have been taken into detailed study. Therefore, this research only focused on examine the level of satisfaction and the perceptions among students towards service quality practices in two selected private universities in Selangor. The selected universities are Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) and Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), and the respondents will be the students from both of the selected universities.
1.9 Definitions of Terms
1.9.1 Quality
Quality lies in the perception of the consumer. What is "great" for one may not be good enough for another (Mukhopadhyay 2006, p.22). There are various well-known definitions of quality. Crosby (1979) defines quality as "conformance to requirement" while Juran and Gryna (1980) define quality as "fitness for use". Deming (1986) defines quality as "a predictable degree of uniformity and dependability at low cost and suited to the market". It is more towards quality in operation. Many organisations found that the old definition of quality, "the degree of conformance to a standard", was too narrow. Consequently, they used a new definition of quality in terms of "customer focus". It is reported that many companies had initially concentrated all their efforts on improving internal processes with little or no regard for the relationships between those processes and the organisation's ultimate customers (Brigham 1993). This failure to include the customer focus had resulted in companies struggling hard to survive. In the context of higher education, due to the intangible nature of its processes, there is a considerable discussion on the notions of educational quality (Green, 1994 and Harvey, 1995).
In the context of total quality management (TQM), quality can be defined as meeting the wishes and expectations of customers in an ideal economical level and in a most suitable manner (Simsek, 2001) or as a dynamic state that is meeting or exceeding customers' requirements, needs, expectations and desires (McNealy, 1993; Oakland, 1995; Croker et al., 1996; Goetsch and Davis, 1997). In TQM, the quality improvement process should begin and end with the customers (Senge, 1990).
1.9.2 Service
The definition of service is any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product. There are four commonly cited characteristics of services that make them different to market from goods : intangibility, inseparatibility, variability and perisahbility.
1.9.3 Service Quality
Customer satisfaction with service quality can be defined by comparing perceptions of the service received with the expectations of the service desired. Service quality can be defined as the extent of the service provided able to meet customers' needs or expectations (Lewis and Mitchell, 1990; Dotchin and Oakland, 1994; Asubonteng et al., 1996; Wisniewski and Donnelly, 1996). Therefore, service quality can be defined as the difference between customer expectations of service and perceived service. Perceived quality is less than satisfactory when expectations are greater than performance and resulted customer dissatisfaction (Parasuraman et al ., 1985; Lewis and Mitchell, 1990).
1.9.4 Customer Satisfaction
According to Johnson (1993), a customer can be any person or group which receives products or services from another person or group. Therefore, the needs of the customer should be determined to achieve a high level of quality. All the stakeholders involved in the processes of service or production, or the ones that are affected by the results of these processes can be considered as customers (Weaver, 1995).
In TQM, customers are divided into internal and external customers. External customers are referring to the people and institutions outside school that receive, use or are affected by the outputs of the school system such as parents, community at large, colleges, vocational schools, businesses, government and industry can be deemed among these external customers. Internal customers referred to the people within-school stakeholders such as teachers and students (Johnson, 1993; Schwartzman, 1995; Munoz, 1999). In a market which is environment oriented, and under the pressures of stakeholders, customers' is a long-run direction for the survival of organizations (Sahney et al., 2004).
1.9.5 Perception
According to Zeithaml et al. (1990), some factors were identified which able to effect the consumer's perception of performance of the service. For instance, the factors include tangibles such as the physical boundry in which the service was provided, the equipment involved, the perceived competence and credibility of service providers, and their approach, realiability and courtesy.
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
The literature review aims to cover several related topic. There are: service quality, satisfactions in service quality, perceptions on service quality, service quality model, and service quality in higher educational institutions/ universities.
2.2 Service Quality
Quality can be defined based on the idea that quality has to be judged on the assessment of the user or consumer of the service. The construct of quality as conceptualized in the services literature is based on the perceived quality. Perceived quality is defined as the consumer's judgment about an entity's overall experience or superiority (Zeithaml, 1987; Zammuto et al. 1996).
Service quality, from the organisation's perspective, means establishing requirements and specifications. Once established, the quality goal is based primarily on satisfying customers' needs. From the customers' perspective, service quality means how the goods or services provided by the organization able to meet or exceed customer expectations (Mc Coll et al., 1998).
According to Asubonteng (1996), service quality defined as the extent to which a service meets customers' needs or expectations. Service quality can thus be defined as the difference between customer expectations of service and perceived service. If expectations are greater than performance, then perceived quality is less than satisfactory and, therefore, customer dissatisfaction occurs (Parasuraman et al., 1985).
A traditional approach to the concept of service quality has been to manage it against a set of pre-defined standards. For instance, service quality would be deemed to have been delivered if activities were completed within a certain time frame, or if products complied with certain measurements or specifications. However, in the context of modern service, this approach is considered to be insufficient in truly identifying what differentiates service experiences from one another, and what constitutes the 'quality' element of service. Reeves and Bednar (1994) stated that this perception of quality as 'adherence in standards' may work in the context of goods, but unsuitable in gaining an understanding of quality in service because much of the service experience is intangible. In addition, they state that one of the most common problems with the 'conformance to standards' model of service quality is that it is invariably defined by management. They argue that this therefore does not encapsulate service quality, because service quality is determined by their customer. Similarly, Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1990) also concluded that consumer perceptions of service quality result from comparing expectations prior to receiving the service, and their actual experience of the service. Perceived quality is also seen as a form of attitude, related to, but not the same as satisfaction, and resulting from a comparison of expectations with perceptions of performance (Rowley, 1996). Therefore, perceived service quality could be the product of the evaluations of a number of service encounters and in this case, of a student, these could range from encounters with office staff, to encounters with tutors, lecturers, the head of departments, etc (Hill, 1995). As a result, if an organization regularly provides service at a level that exceeds customer expectations, the service will be evaluated as high quality. In contrast, if an organization fails to meet customer expectations, the service will be judge as poor quality (Zammuto et al., 1996).
According to Heck et al. (2000), higher education is facing pressure to improve value in its activities and the present view for enhancing educational value is to spend effort on continuous improvement, to focus on stakeholder interests and to increase student satisfaction. Student satisfaction is often used to assess educational quality, where the ability to address strategic needs is of prime importance (Cheng, 1990). Tan et al. (2004) also stated that quality in education can be determined through the students' needs and expectations.
Services are behavioural rather than physical entities, and have been described as deeds, performances or effort (Rathmell, 1966) deeds, acts or performances (Berry,1980), activities or processes (Gronroos, 1991). The characteristics of services that distinguish them from products, in particular the subjectivity and intangibility of much of the service encounter further complicate quality measures (Zeithaml et al., 1990). Service quality is seen, almost universally, as perceived (by customer) service quality. The link with satisfaction is presumed to influence repurchase intentions and through this customer retention and increased profitability. Service quality, from the organisation's perspective, means establishing requirements and specifications. Once established, the quality goal is based primarily on satisfying customers' needs
2.3 Satisfactions on Service Quality
Referring to Kotler and Clarke (1987), satisfaction can defined as a state experienced by a person who has undergo performance or an outcome that fulfill his or her expectation. Satisfaction is a function of relative level of expectations and perceives performance. The expectation may go as far as before the students even enter the higher education, suggesting that it is important to the researchers to determine first what the students expect before entering the university (Palacio, Meneses and Perez, 2002). In contrary, Carey, Cambiano and De Vore (2002), believe that satisfaction actually covers issues of students' perception and experiences during the college years. While most student satisfaction study focus on the perspective of customer, researchers is facing a problem of creating a standard definition for student satisfaction thus providing a need of customer satisfaction theory to be selected and modified so that it can explain the meaning of student satisfaction (Hom, 2002). William (2002) found that to view students as customer is risky, but by providing current situation of higher education as marketplace, there is a new moral privilege for the student to become customer and therefore can, as fee payers, reasonably demand that their views be heard and take into action.
Generally, students have three major criteria that need to be satisfied with services. These has been labeled as requisite encounters which essentially enable students to fulfill their study obligations; acceptable encounters which students acknowledge as being desirable but not essential during their course of study and functional, an encounter of a practical or utilitarian nature (Oldfield and Baron, 2000).
Service Quality is commonly noted as a critical prerequisite for establishing and sustaining satisfying relationship with valued customers. In this way, the association between service quality and customer satisfaction has emerged as a topic of significant and strategic concern (Cronin and Taylor, 1992). In general, perceived service quality is an antecedent to satisfaction (Spreng and Mckoy, 1996). Thus, a proper understanding of the antecedents and determinants of customer satisfaction can be seen as to have an extraordinarily high monetary value for service organization in a competitive environment (Lassar, Manolis and Winsor, 2000).
2.4
Perceptions on Service Quality
Quintana (2006) suggested related to the determination of successful quality service is directly depend on the perceptions of the customer. The final measure of quality customer service is simply how the customer perceives it. Perceptions are considered relative to expectations. Customers perceive service in terms of the quality of the service they receive and whether or not they are satisfied with their experiences (Parasuraman et al., 1988).
According to Zeithaml et al. (1990), some factors were identified which able to effect the consumer's perception of performance of the service. For instance, the factors include tangibles such as the physical boundry in which the service was provided, the equipment involved, the perceived competence and credibility of service providers, and their approach, realiability and courtesy.
- Service Quality Model
While there have been efforts to study service quality, there has been no general agreement on the measurement of the concept. The majority of the work to date has attempted to use the SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al. , 1985; 1988) methodology in an effort to measure service quality (e.g. Brooks et
al., 1999; Chaston, 1994; Edvardsson et al. , 1997; Lings and Brooks, 1998; Reynoso and Moore, 1995; Young and Varble, 1997; Sahney et al. , 2004).
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) however listed ten determinants of service quality that can be generalized to any type of service. The ten dimensions include tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security and understanding. In addition, these ten dimensions were then regrouped in the well-known five dimensions in the SERVQUAL model (Parasuraman et al., 1990) which include assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness and tangibility. The dimensions of service quality as shown in figure 2.5.1 were identified by marketing researchers studying several different service categories. They identified five principles dimensions that customers use to judge service quality consists of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles, which are listed in order of declining relative importance to customers (Parasuraman, Zeithmal & Berry, 1988).
Figure 2.5.1 Perceived Service Quality
(Adapted from A. Parasuraman, V. A. Zeithaml and L. L. Berry, " A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research", Journal of Marketing, vol 49, Fall 1985, p.48.)
- Reliability : The ability to perform the promised service both depending and accurately Reliable service performance is a customer expectation and means that the service is accomplished on time, in the same manner, and without error every time.
- Responsiveness: The willingness to help the customers and to provide prompt service. If a service failure occurs, the ability to recover quickly and with professionalism can create very positive perceptions in quality.
- Assurance (including competence, courtesy, credibility and security): The knowledge and courtesy of employees as well as their ability to convey trust and confidence. The assurance dimensions includes the following features: competence to perform the service, politeness and respect for the customer, effective communication with the customer, and the general attitude that the server has the customer's best interests at heart.
- Empathy (including access, communication and understanding the customer): The provision of caring, individualized attention to customers. Empathy includes the following features: approachability, sensitivity, and effort to understand the customer's needs.
- Tangibles: The appearances of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communications materials. The condition of physical surroundings is tangible evidence of the care and attention to detail that are exhibited by the service provider.
SERVQUAL was developed as an instrument for measuring customers' perceptions of service quality. The SERVQUAL model of Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, is the 22-item instruments for measuring customer expectations and perceptions along five quality dimensions (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles). Measuring the gap between the expected service and perceived service is a routine customer feedback process that is practiced by leading service companies. In Figure 3.5.2, the gap between the customer expectations and perceptions is defined as Gap 5. It is shown to depend on the size and direction of the four gaps that are associated with delivery of service.
There are seven major gaps in the service quality concept, which are shown in Figure 3.5.2. The model is an extension of Parasuraman et al. (1985). According to the following explanation (ASI Quality Systems, 1992; Curry, 1999; Luk and Layton, 2002), the three important gaps, which are more associated with the external customers, are Gap 1, Gap 5 and Gap 6; since they have a direct relationship with customers.
- Gap 1: The difference between what customer expected and what management perceived customers expected.
- Gap 2: The difference between management perceptions of consumer expectations and the translation of those perceptions into service quality specifications. Management may understand and know what customers want but fail to translate these expectations into the correct service specifications
- Gap 3: The difference between the service quality specifications and the delivery of those specifications to the customer. Primary causes of this gap are the variable and inseparable nature of services. Because most services are performed by people, the quality of service is highly dependent upon how well the service provider performs their job. If the service contact personnel provide services as specified, customers are usually satisfied and their expectations are met. If employees do not provide services as specified in the service specifications, customers are usually satisfied and their customer expectations are not met and customers will be dissatisfied.
- Gap 4: The difference between the service delivered to customers and the external communications about the service. Promises are made to consumers by a firm's advertising, sales promotions, and sales staff. These promises may be explicitly
Figure 2.5.2 Service Quality Gap Model (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Curry, 1999; Luk and Layton, 2002)
stated or may be implied. If the firm does not provide the service that that is promised, there is a gap between what customers expected and the service received.
- Gap 5: The discrepancy between customer expectations and their perceptions of the service delivered: as a result of the influences exerted from the customer side and the shortfalls (gaps) on the part of the service provider. In this case, customer expectations are influenced by the extent of personal needs, word of mouth recommendation and past service experiences.
- Gap 6: The discrepancy between customer expectations and employees' perceptions: as a result of the differences in the understanding of customer expectations by front-line service providers.
- Gap7: The discrepancy between employee's perceptions and management perceptions: as a result of the differences in the understanding of customer expectations between managers and service providers.
According to Lassar, Manolis and Winsor (2000), two most prevalent and widely accepted perspectives on service quality include the SERVQUAL model and the Technical/Functional Quality framework. Gronroos (1984) held that service quality is made up of three dimensions "the technical quality of the outcome", "the functional quality of the encounter" and "the company corporate image". He argued that in examining the determinants of quality, it is necessary to differentiate between quality associated with the process of service delivery and quality associated with the outcome of service, judged by the consumer after the service is performed.
An alternative to using gap theory methodology for measuring service quality is to obtain service performance measures. The two types of performance measure that can be obtained are internal measures and customer measures. Internal measures of service quality are designed to provide objective measures of the firm's performance while customer measures are designed to measure attitudes and opinions of customers.
Internal measures of service quality are important to service firms for two reasons. First, by comparing a firm's score with industry benchmarks will provide areas of expertise that can be used in developing a competitive advantage. Customer measures offer several advantages over internal measure of service quality. First, companies gain valuable information concerning how customers feel about their service. Strengths and weaknesses can be determined that can be used to develop marketing and operational plan. Service firms may believe they are supplying good service, but if customers do not feel the same, they will not come back. Second, understanding how customer feel about service will provide firms with information that can be used to improve their efforts to better meet customer needs. Customer can also provide valuable information concerning the process by which the service is performed.
2.6 Service Quality in Higher Educational Institutions/ Universities
Education is goal-oriented. Accordingly, quality of education has been seen with reference to excellence in education, value addition in education (Feigenbaum, 1983), fitness of educational outcome and experience for use (Juran and Gryna, 1988), conformance of education output to planed goals, specifications and requirements (Crosby 1979), defect avoidance in education process (Crosby 1979) and meeting or exceeding customer's expectation of education (Parasuraman et al. 1985). Holt (2000) argues, 'I shall suppose that education is concerned with the development that of minds of the pupils; school produce educated persons who, by virtue of their schooling, to be interpreted? Commitment to quality makes student proud to learn and work hardly for improvement. Quality improvement is a never ending process. Education quality leads to a prospective future. Hence, insight on quality indices and virtual implementation need to be given top priority and due attention should be paid to the category in the wide range of educational strata e.g. school, university, educational management, and the staff.
Numerous studies have adapted this measurement in HEI, such as service quality in business schools (Rigotti and Pitt, 1992) and higher educational institutions (Cuthbert, 1996; Soutar and McNeil, 1996; Saaditul, Samsinar and Wong, 2000). In the study by Cuthbert (1996) it has been found that among the dimension in SQ, the score for tangibility (3.34) is the highest, followed by assurance (3.21), reliable (3.11), responsive (3.04) and empathy (2.58). However he added that this does not represent tangibility as a major contributor towards satisfaction of the students as he believes it is the service encounter which is the determinant factor. O'Neill and Palmer (2004) also hold the exact same idea that, although tangibility is ranked as the best in term of overall performance score, but it has been ranked as the least importance by the students compared to process and empathy. Study by Perisau and McDaniel (1997) is best described as, assurance and reliability has been identified as the most important suggesting that students are most concern with the knowledge, courtesy and ability to inspire trust and confidence which is part of the assurance dimension. Nevertheless, there are studies that have a different opinion on the importance of tangibility dimension in service quality.
Smith and Ennew (2001) outlined an interesting aspect in his research toward the SQ in higher education. He highlighted that there is difficult aspect in the choice of satisfaction perception of customer between the affective indignation and the technical functionality. For example, the particular facility consumed by the students could be judged according to how reliable they are (technical functionality) or according to their ages, appearances, courtesy and empathy (affective). The perfect reliable facility, which is not up to date, but are capable of carrying out the task, may still be negatively rated if the users expect the university to provide up to date facility. He also showed that there were specific supportive items known as peripheral aspect and the university facilities, which students consume such as cafeterias and residential accommodation that will directly and indirectly have a significant impact on the evaluation of the university. Based on the study by Umbach and Porter (2002), it also appears that the size or a number of faculties within a department in HEI is important in explaining student satisfaction. LeBlanc and Nguyen (1997) for example stressed on the reputation as a factor, which is tied closely to management's capacity to foster an organizational climate directed at serving the needs of its customers and to the image of the HEI. It is also process-related in that, it involves an ability to inspire trust and confidence and provide personal attention to students in a professional and caring manner. In term of importance, the study has shown that perceived value is derived mainly from price/quality, a factor that is closely tied to the business school's capacity to offer sufficient services to
students and convince them that they are receiving quality services in exchange for what they give by means of their tuition fees.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
Previously, there are few studies conducted in public and private university related to the perceptions and satisfactions of their students for the service provided by the management of the universities. However, the private universities were still lacking of knowledge related to the level of satisfaction among student and their perceptions towards service quality in their own university. This study intend to investigate on service quality practices can be useful to improve the service to their students and also sensitize the management to provide quality service for their students. The purpose of this study is to examine students perceptions towards the service quality practices in several dimensions (program issue, academic reputation, physical aspects/cost, career opportunities, location, time) in two private universities and to examine the level of satisfaction of service quality practices among the students. Also, this study intend to determine the relationship between the level of satisfaction and the perceptions of students about service quality practices. In this chapter, the methodology will describes the methods used to collect the data and will be analyzed it by following the research design, sampling technique, measurement and instrumentation, data collection, and data analysis.
3.2 Research Design
In this study , descriptive and inferential study will be undertaken in order to be able to describe the characteristics of the variables of the students' perceptions and satisfactions about service quality practices provided by LUCT and UTP. The dependent variables in this study are the level of student satisfaction and perceptions among student that is measured by the overall satisfaction with LUCT and UTP. The independent variable in this study is service quality in the selected private universities that measures the level of satisfaction with service performance. The dimensions included in this variable are tangibility, assurance, responsiveness, reliability, and empathy.
3.3 Sampling Technique
The samples in this study will be the students studying in two private universities. Respondent consists of students from Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) and Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP). A total of 200 students to be chosen as a sample to adopt a simple random sampling in this study . These samples were chosen from LUCT and UTP because based on the past research had been done found that the level of respond back of respondent quite high. 100 questionnaires will be distributed to LUCT and another 100 to UTP. The questionnaires will be distributed by the representative in each university.
3.4 Measurement and Instrumentation
This study will be used structured questionnaire as a medium to obtain the data required. There are three sections in the questionnaire, consisting of Part A: background information of the students, Part B: Students level of satisfactions of their own university and Part C: Students perceptions of their own university. 22-items questionnaire will be based on previous study conducted by Ahzam bin Othman (2008). The questionnaire items are rated using Likert-type scale response format from 1 (strongly dissatisfied) to 6(strongly satisfied). The 22 attributes which are grouped into five dimensions which are respondent tangibles, assurance, responsiveness, reliability, and empathy. The respondents will be required to rate the actual service that their received in terms of their level of satisfaction and perceptions. A sample of questionnaire for this study is shown in Appendix 1.
3.5 Data Collection
The total of 200 questionnaires will be distributed by the representative in each university using drop and pick method. 100 questionnaires will be distributed to LUCT and another 100 to UTP. The questionnaires will be distributed by the representative in each university. A structured questionnaire adapted from Ahzam Bin Othman (2008) study, consist of 3 major parts. Part A is the background information of the students which consists of 7 questions, Part B is the students' level of satisfactions of their own university which consists of 23 questions and Part C is related to students' perceptions towards the service quality provided from their own university which also consists of 23 questions.
3.6 Data Analysis Procedures
The data analysis for this study will be analyzed based on descriptive and inferential analysis through 'Statistical Package for Social Science' software or SPSS version 17.0. The study also will be tested the reliability of the instrument so that it will produce a valid result. Data will be analyzed through descriptive analysis by using mean and standard deviation to identify the perceptions and level of satisfaction about service quality. The inferential analysis will be analyzed by using Pearson-correlation test to determine the relationship between the perceptions and level of satisfaction about service quality.
REFERENCES
Ahzam Othman. (2008). A Comparative Study on Service Quality Between Public and
Private Higher Institutions(Master's Thesis). College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia.
Toremen, F., & Karakus, M. (2009).Total quality management practices in Turkish
primary schools.
Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 30-44. doi:10.1108/09684880910929917
Becket, N., & Brookes, M. (2008). Quality Management Practice in Higher Education: What
Quality Are We Actually Enhancing?. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education. DOI:10.3794/johlste.71.174
Hishamuddin Fitri, Abu Hasan, Azleen Ilias, Rahida Abd Rahman, & Mohd Zulkeflee Abd
Razak. (2008). Service Quality and Student Satisfaction: A Case Study at Private Higher Education Institutions. International Business Research. Vol.1 No.3. Retrieved from www.ccsenet.org/journal.html.
Hadi Mohammad Pour, & Yeshodhara, K. (2010). Total Quality Management (TQM) in
Education: Perception of Secondary School Teachers. All India Association for Educational Research Journal.
Arpin, J. (2007). Students' Perceptions of Service Quality at the Durban University Of
Technology. (Master's Thesis). Business Studies Unit, Durban University of Technology.
Satish, V. (2009). Students Perception of Service Quality at University of Chester
Seaborne Library. (Master's thesis). Chester Business School, University of Chester.
Shahin, (2007). SERVQUAL and Model of Service Quality Gaps: A Framework for
Determining and Prioritizing Critical Factors in
Delivering Quality Services: Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Iran.
Wilkinson, R., & Ishak Yussof (2005). Public and Private Provision of Higher Education in
Malaysia: A comparative analysis. 50: 361–386. DOI 10.1007/s10734-004-6354-0
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L.L. (1990). Delivering Quality Service:
Balancing Customers Perceptions and Expectations. The Free Press. New York.
Rust, R.T., Zahorik, A.J., & Keiningham, T.L. (1996). Service Marketing. Harper Collins
College Publishers. New York.
Fitzsimmons, J.A., & Fitzsimmons, M.J. (1997). Service management: Operations, Strategy
and Information Technology( 2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill Companies. Singapore.
Kurtz, D.L., & Clow, K.E. (1998). Services Marketing. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York.
Ghazally Ismail & Murtedza Mohamed. (1997). The New Wave University: A prelude
to Malaysia 2020 (2nd ed.). Pelanduk Publications Sdn. Bhd. Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Ministry of Higher Education. (2010). http://www.mohe.gov.my/
APPENDIX 1 QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear students,
This survey is designed to gather information about students' satisfactions and perceptions of service quality in private universities in Malaysia. The results from this survey will provide information about the relative strengths and weaknesses of service quality in private universities in Malaysia. All the information is private and will not reveal others. All the information is using for research only.
Thank you so much for your participation.
Zubaidah Abdul Ghani
Master of Educational Management and Leadership
Faculty of Education
UiTM Seksyen 17 Shah Alam, Selangor
Please (/) the appropriate number only in box that best represents your response for each of the statements that follow in all section.
PART A: PERSONAL INFORMATIONS
|
| |
| ||
|
| |
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
| |
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
| |
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
PART B : THE LEVEL OF SATISFACTION OF OWN UNIVERSITY
This part concerns certain aspects about your for the service quality that you receive from the university. Please circle the approprite number. Please indicate the response that the best describe your agreement os disagreement.
PROGRAM ISSUES | Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Moderately Disagree | Moderately Agree | Agree | Strongly Agree | |
1 | The university has a range of degree options available. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university has the flexibility in allowing switching in major. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
3 | The university has a degree program with flexible structure and content. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
4 | The university has a number of specialized programs study available. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
5 | The university has flexible entry requirement. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
6 | The university has a practical component in the degree program. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
ACADEMIC REPUTATION | Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Moderately Disagree | Moderately Agree | Agree | Strongly Agree | |
1 | The university offers a reputable degree. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university offers excellent academic facilities and physical facilities. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
3 | Professors and lecturers of this university give an efficient service to student. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
4 | The university has excellent instructors. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
PHYSICAL ASPECTS/COST |
Strongly Disagree |
Disagree |
Moderately Disagree |
Moderately Agree |
Agree |
Strongly Agree | |
1 | The university offers housing at a reasonable expense. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university has excellent housing facilities. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
3 | The university offers excellent sports and recreational programs. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
4 | The university offers an education at a reasonable expense. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES | |||||||
1 | The university's graduates are easily employable | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university provides excellent information on career opportunities. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
LOCATION | |||||||
1 | The university has an ideal location. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university has excellent campus layout and appearance. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
TIME | |||||||
1 | The university allows an acceptable amount of time to complete the degree. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university offers a less amount of time in administrative processes. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
3 | The university able to provide a good facilities and accomodations as it scheduled. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
OTHERS | |||||||
1 | The choice of a university is influenced by family members and peers. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The choice of a university is influenced by word-of-mouth. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
PART C : THE PERCEPTIONS OF OWN UNIVERSITY
This part concerns certain aspects about your feeling (perceptions) for the service quality that you receive from the university. Please circle the approprite number. Please indicate the response that the best describe your agreement os disagreement.
PROGRAM ISSUES | Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Moderately Disagree | Moderately Agree | Agree | Strongly Agree | |
1 | The university has a range of degree options available. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university has the flexibility in allowing switching in major. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
3 | The university has a degree program with flexible structure and content. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
4 | The university has a number of specialized programs study available. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
5 | The university has flexible entry requirement. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
6 | The university has a practical component in the degree program. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
ACADEMIC REPUTATION | Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Moderately Disagree | Moderately Agree | Agree | Strongly Agree | |
1 | The university offers a reputable degree. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university offers excellent academic facilities and physical facilities. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
3 | Professors and lecturers of this university give an efficient service to student. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
4 | The university has excellent instructors. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
PHYSICAL ASPECTS/COST |
Strongly Disagree |
Disagree |
Moderately Disagree |
Moderately Agree |
Agree |
StronglyAgree | |
1 | The university offers housing at a reasonable expense. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university has excellent housing facilities. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
3 | The university offers excellent sports and recreational programs. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
4 | The university offers an education at a reasonable expense. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES | |||||||
1 | The university's graduates are easily employable | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university provides excellent information on career opportunities. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
LOCATION | |||||||
1 | The university has an ideal location. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university has excellent campus layout and appearance. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
TIME | |||||||
1 | The university allows an acceptable amount of time to complete the degree. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The university offers a less amount of time in administrative processes. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
3 | The university able to provide a good facilities and accomodations as it scheduled. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
OTHERS | |||||||
1 | The choice of a university is influenced by family members and peers. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
2 | The choice of a university is influenced by word-of-mouth. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
No comments:
Post a Comment